A typical minilab for photographic processing has an entrance for receiving print media, which can be cut sheets or web photographic media. The received print media then follows a processing sequence where the media is transported for printing and development.
For minilabs known in the current art, changing out the magazines of the photographic processor when different types of print media are needed is expensive. A need exists to improve the speed and versatility of these machines, particularly with regard to the feed mechanism of the print media. A need exists for a system and method that can easily, and in a light tight manner, provide different sizes of print media quickly and efficiently in order to increase the versatility of a mini-lab and enable different kinds of print media to be available to a user.
The present invention was designed to meet these needs.